Boise

The Boise City Council Tuesday will consider a revised master plan for St. Luke’s downtown hospital. A public hearing on the plan last week drew so much testimony for and against that the meeting lasted until 1 a.m. As a result, the council delayed its vote to this week.

If you’re in Boise, take a look around. There’s a very good chance some of the people you see are out-of-towners. June and July are Boise’s busiest months for tourism.

The Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau keeps track of how many hotel rooms get rented and when. Visitors bureau director Carrie Westergard says both in June and July the city could have as many visitors as residents.

Mississippi's flag, and the Confederate symbols embedded within it, has come down outside Boise's City Hall.

Boise Mayor David Bieter pushed to have the symbol removed from City Hall's 50-state display following the South Carolina church massacre and ensuing debate over the Confederate flag being flown at the capitol there.

A Boise official says there are currently no plans to return Mississippi's flag to the display.

Nearly 7,000 refugees from more than 30 countries have been resettled in Idaho in the last decade. More than a dozen of them will be sworn in as U.S. citizens Saturday as part of the World Refugee Day celebration in downtown Boise, which is sponsored by the Idaho Office for Refugees.

Benjamin Rutikanga is one of them. Rutikanga fled his home in Rwanda during the infamous genocide of the '90s. He later fled other conflict in Congo. Then he spent more than a decade in a refugee camp before being sent somewhere he’d never heard of: Boise Idaho.

State government would help fund resource programs for the homeless if state Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, had her way, especially as Ada County looks for solutions to homelessness.

The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/1AVOiwb ) that Boise Director of Community Partnerships Diana Lachiondo says the city is working with local hospitals and Ada County on a collaboration that would bring a housing first model to the Treasure Valley.

The number of flights in and out of the Boise airport increases Friday. Airport officials say Delta will begin flying new routes to and from Seattle as part of the airline’s west coast expansion. But there’s one route that continues to elude Boise travelers – a direct flight to a major east coast hub.

The Boise International Market is throwing its grand opening celebration Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. with live music and dance from around the world. Sixteen individual businesses are now open at the market, and six more are coming soon.

If you attended Built to Spill's performance during Treefort Music Fest this year, you probably noticed a weird pirate-looking guy on stage.

He came into view for several minutes during the Boise set (the first show of the band's new tour) and hopped around making bizarre gestures at lead singer Doug Martsch. The two intermittently interacted, seeming to talk with one another during the show while Martsch played. It didn't make much sense at the time.

Boise’s long-awaited bike share system will begin installing stations downtown this week. Boise GreenBike hopes to have its first 15 stations operational, and its first 114 bikes on the road by the end of April.

Boise GreenBike Director Dave Fotsch says four years' worth of work will culminate in the next few weeks.

The owners of Les Bois Park in Garden City say they'll close the facility permanently if the Idaho Legislature bans instant racing. A bill to do away with the betting terminals – which critics say too closely resemble slot machines – is making its way through the Legislature.

This month, two different companies proposed building new hotels across the street from one another in downtown Boise. If built, they would also be across the street from the existing Hampton Inn and a block from the Grove Hotel.

Boise City Council President Maryanne Jordan is now a state senator. Jordan was appointed to the body by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter after Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, resigned to join the Idaho Tax Commission.

Jordan will fill the District 17 seat.

“I believe Maryanne has proven herself to be a dedicated public servant with a long track record of notable achievement and civic leadership,” said Gov. Otter in a press release. “I have every confidence that she will continue that laudable legacy as the newest member of the Idaho Legislature.”

The National Weather Service says the city broke records for average high temperatures, warmest average low temperatures and warmest average temperature. The region also received more rain than usual.

The average high temperature in Boise was 53.2 degrees. That broke a record set in 1992 by a half degree. The previous record for average lows was set in 1983. The previous record for warmest average temperature in a February was set in 1963.